Zemaria: White Snake
by Lady Zemaria
Summary: The third great Ninja war reached full force when a new very young and very powerful child joined the fighting. Her name was Zemaria Senju and she had more power than anyone could ever imagine. At only 3 1/2 years old, she could keep up with any Jounin. Her story begins here as the "white snake" taking after her mother Tsunade Senju's personality. She will become the Fourth Hokage
1. Chapter 1: Third Great Ninja War

****Disclaimer: If you don't like what you're reading, don't comment. If you want to comment, please make it constructive.**

 **Tips: It is not uncommon for a child at almost 4 years of age to be able to make complete sentences. Honestly, look at the cartoon on Sprout "Caillou"; he's 4 years old and his little sister is about 2. Rosie (the sister) can speak in almost complete sentences and walk properly for the most part. Caillou is able to understand most things the adults say and can learn from others. He speaks in complete sentences, can tie his shoes, walk/run/jump on his own. He can even use kid skates and ice skates. Also, ever hear of "anime logic"? Well guess what; anime logic barely ever exists. There are animes that have almost no logic like Excel Saga and Azumanga Daioh. Do not tell me this story is unrealistic when realism hardly ever exists in anime; Naruto is no exception. Also, Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya were all Gennin when they were FIVE. Kakashi? Gennin at FIVE. Itachi? Gennin at SIX. Zemaria being excessively talented stems from OROCHIMARU being her father. Think about it; O-RO-CHI-MA-RU! The most well known obsessively EXPERIMENTALLY induced individual in the entire series! He EXPERIMENTED on his own child! Of course she's going to be OP! She's no stronger than Itachi and I did that on purpose because she's a SENJU and he's an UCHIHA! I wanted it to be mirrored off of Madara and Hashirama. If common sense can't make you see that, then there's something wrong.****

Chapter One

Third Great Ninja War

The third great ninja war seemed to go on forever. It forced young shinobi to fight endlessly and risk their lives; shinobi such as Kakashi Hatake, Obito Uchiha, and Rin Nohara under the leadership of Minato Namikaze. The three young shinobi were all between nine and eleven years old. But there was one child so young, she couldn't have possibly been old enough to fight; let alone have much in the way of chakra control. Her name was Zemaria Senju and she was a prodigal child of her generation.

Her parents were two of the three legendary Sannin of the Hidden Leaf Village. Zemaria was three and a half years old. Orochimaru insisted she participate in the war. He wanted to test her strength in the heat of battle. Being born of two Sannin gave Zemaria unprecedented power. While Zemaria was fighting alongside her parents, Minato's team came up with a tactic to split up. He would go off on his own and Kakashi being the other Jounin in the team, would lead his two teammates in a different direction.

"Does everyone understand the plan?" Minato asked the three kids.

They all nodded. "Yes Sensei. We'll head to the East and branch off from there," Kakashi replied.

Minato put the map they were looking at away. They all stood up and ran off to the East as Kakashi had said they were to do. After a while, they split up from their Sensei and went in the opposite direction in search of the enemy to take down. It didn't take long for them to encounter enemy shinobi. While in the midst of battle, Rin was kidnapped.

Immediately, Obito rushed to try and go after the shinobi who took his teammate and friend. Kakashi stopped him. He told him the mission was top priority; they would save Rin later. Obito didn't like that idea. He tried to change Kakashi's mind.

"Rin is our teammate! Our _friend_! Don't you care about her at all Kakashi!?" Obito yelled.

"Those who disobey the rules are scum. We can't waste time trying to save Rin and risk failing the mission!" Kakashi yelled back.

Obito clenched his hand into a fist, "That might be true in the shinobi world, but... those who abandon their friends, are worse than scum! I'm going after them and I'll save Rin on my own!"

The two split after their argument. Obito went after the enemy to find Rin and save her while Kakashi went in the other direction to continue and finish the mission by himself. Once Obito found where they had taken Rin, he was about to go inside the cave where she was being kept. The enemy ninja attacked him. He hesitated at first but soon fought them.

The fight didn't last very long before he nearly had gotten himself killed. In an instant, their attack had failed. Kakashi decided to change his mind and go after Obito. He knew his teammate couldn't handle things on his own and saved him from the enemy's attack. The battle continued on and just as things were looking like they were to favor the young Leaf shinobi, one enemy managed to cut deep into Kakashi's face directly over his left eye with a kunai.

"Kakashi!" Obito yelled. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Let's just hurry and save Rin," He replied, his left eye now closed tight.

While they handled things there, on another battlefield, Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Zemaria were fighting enemy shinobi in mass quantities. Zemaria had so much concentration on the battle at hand that her parents only needed minimal effort to handle the enemies before them. Their young daughter who wasn't even old enough to enter into the Ninja Academy was slaughtering hundreds of shinobi in five minute incriminates. Tsunade was clearly impressed as the three moved from battlefield to battlefield effortlessly. But something was bothering her; Zemaria's ease of killing. She seemed to do it without any emotion whatsoever.

Tsunade wondered just what kind of training Orochimaru had been giving her. She feared and was worried her daughter would turn out just like him; a cold blooded heartless killer. She already had more speed than both Tsunade and Orochimaru combined. Zemaria wasn't at all a perfect assassin however; she for a single moment had been thrown off kilter and because of that moment, had been struck with a kunai. It left a cut stretching from her cheek bone, kissed the corner of her right eye, and rested over top of her thin eyebrow.

This threw her off balance for a few seconds before she regained her groove. The attack caught the attention of her parents who were about to help her until they realized she was actually perfectly fine as well as capable of handling it herself. Meanwhile, Obito and Kakashi made it inside of the cave after Obito was able to activate his Sharingan; the famed kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan. Together, they defeated the enemies and freed Rin. However, it was no time to celebrate as one enemy had created a cave-in not long after the two boys' rescue was successful.

"We have to leave, now!" Kakashi ran towards the entrance.

"We'll never make it in time!" Rin said as the opening started getting blocked by chunks of rocks.

Rin ended up tripping. Obito dove toward her and shoved her out of the way, "Run Rin!"

She was shoved closer to Kakashi who had gotten a bit ahead of them, "Obito!"

The rocks fell directly on top of Obito's right side, "Rin... Kakashi... you both have to get out of here before you're trapped inside."

"Obito... we can't leave you behind. Maybe I can move the rocks," Kakashi said.

"No, it's useless. You two... have to leave. But, before you do... I just remembered something. I... never gave you... a gift- for making Jounin. I want to- give you something that's not stupid or useless," Obito said and held his left hand up. "Take my Sharingan... Kakashi. It... doesn't matter what anyone will say. You deserve it and I know it will be in good hands. Take care of it and we will always be connected."

Kakashi took the bandage off and opened his eye after Obito transferred the Sharingan over, "Obito..."

Rin sensed more enemies approaching, "Kakashi! We have to leave _now_! More enemies are coming!"

"Promise me... you'll protect Rin," Obito let out his final words.

"I promise," Kakashi told him just as the collapsing cave covered the rest of his friend.

Kakashi hurried off and he and Rin rushed for the hole they came in from. He got out first and reached down for Rin's hand to help her out just as the opening became covered and closed up. When they turned away from the cave, a whole mess of enemies stood before them. Kakashi was ready to take them all on alone in order to protect Rin. But before he could, he collapsed. Rin knelt down next to him.

The enemies were about to attack when they were all wiped out. Minato had caught up to them and Zemaria had sensed a large group of ninja. She had been the one that wiped them out as Minato stood to protect his young shinobi students. Minato carried Kakashi to a safer place; Rin following close by. He asked Zemaria to accompany him and the remainder of his team. They were now down one team member unfortunately.

Rin tended to her teammate's wounds. Zemaria even assisted in transferring a small amount of her own chakra over to Kakashi to help in his recovery. Day soon turned to night and Kakashi finally woke up. He was laying next to Minato who was sitting up and staring off into the distance. Rin was a little farther away staring up at the sky and Zemaria was leaning against the tree.

"Minato-Sensei? Did you... save us?" He asked him.

"I was about to, but no. The one who took out all of those shinobi was Lady Zemaria," Minato replied.

"Lady Zemaria?" Kakashi blinked confused.

Zemaria shifted more towards the two, "That would be me. I sensed a large number of shinobi not from the Leaf so I hurried in that direction. When I saw you and your teammate and sensed you had little chakra and energy left, I felt it would be best for me to step in."

Kakashi gasped seeing how young she was, "You? How old are you?"

"I'm three and a half years old," she told him.

He was shocked that someone so young would be involved in the war. What was the Hokage _thinking_? Was she really that powerful that he'd allow her to risk her life before it's barely even begun? Kakashi had so many questions about her presence. Who were her parents and why would _they_ allow their own child at her age to fight?

He lightly shook his head, "Sensei, where's Rin? Is she okay?"

He just pointed to where she had been standing for hours. Physically she was fine but watching her teammate and friend being crushed under those heavy rocks had upset her greatly. She cared deeply for Obito and now he was gone; his dreams all crushed and destroyed. Obito and Kakashi had just started to get along too and then that had to happen. Zemaria stared a bit confused by their sad states. She didn't quite understand what was going on.

"Why do you guys seem upset?" She asked.

"We couldn't save our friend...," Kakashi said still looking at Rin's backside.

The wind blew lightly, tussling their hair. "Oh. I'm sorry," she said softly.

The concept of personal loss wasn't something Zemaria was able to understand yet. She's never experienced before. But she was still young. One day she would understand. She stuck her hand in her pouch and pulled something out. Then she stretched her hand out to Kakashi in an effort to offer him the item. It appeared to be a food pill but it wasn't perfectly round and the color was different than normal ones.

"Uh? What's this?" He asked.

"Take it. It will help replenish your chakra as well as your energy. So you won't feel drained or as tired," she told him.

He took the small odd shaped pill, "Thanks. Where did you get something like this?"

"Mother is a medical ninja and father experiments a lot. I watch them both constantly so I tinkered around and found a good recipe and that pill is the result. Don't worry, I've used them myself as a test as well as my parents," was her explanation.

Minato was the only one there who was aware of who her parents were. That was how she was so powerful at such a young age. Rin finally decided to join her Sensei, Kakashi, and Zemaria. Tsunade and Orochimaru knew their daughter went off on her own. They planned on rejoining her after they were done at the battlefield they were at.

"Kakashi, Rin I've decided on something," Minato started. "Since we're down one team member, I've decided to temporarily add Zemaria to our team."

"What? Why?" Kakashi asked not very thrilled with the idea.

"I think she could be a huge help. We should at least give her a chance," Rin said sweetly.

"But Rin! She's even young than we are! She may be skilled but-," he argued.

"That's enough. From what I heard from the reports, Lady Zemaria has been consistently taking down up to two hundred enemies in five minutes every single time. During the entire time she'd been in the middle of the fighting, she's only ever received one minor injury," Minato informed him.

Kakashi started at his Sensei, "Two hundred in five minutes? And only one injury?"

It was settled; Zemaria would be a temporary member of team Minato. They rested a bit before heading out again. The war lasted another several months before it finally had come to an end. Thousands of lives were lost because of it. The warring lands came to an agreement and made a peace treaty which ultimately resulted in the Third Hokage resigning from his title.

Sarutobi acknowledged Tsunade, Orochimaru, Minato, Rin, Zemaria, and of course the fallen Obito and many others as heroes of the war. He then looked at all of the possible candidates for who would be his successor as the Fourth Hokage. The top shinobi was Minato but there was also little Zemaria who could be a good candidate to be trained by the top special Jounin to one day become Hokage. He himself was very young when the First and Second Hokage decided to have him trained to be Hokage. Orochimaru put his name in as a candidate himself.

There was just one problem; Orochimaru's ambitions would have been the Village's downfall. He simply wasn't right for the position. His daughter however, was a perfect candidate because of her lineage of being Tsunade's child and the Great Granddaughter of the First Hokage. After a week to build up the number of potential candidates, Sarutobi made a decision; Zemaria. It was true she was now four years old but she had him and the elders of the council to aid her in leading the people of the village and making decisions.

"Me? But Lord Hokage, shouldn't the one to succeed you actually be a legitimate shinobi? I'm not even academy age," Zemaria told him. The truth was, she had zero interest in being Hokage at all.

"You've shown the greatest power and skill on the battlefield during this war more than any Jounin had. As Hokage at your age, you would have multiple advisers as well as a special Jounin to continue training you as a shinobi. You're also the daughter of two of the Sannin of the Leaf and the great granddaughter of the First Hokage. Not only that, but your parents along with Jiraiya have been training you since you were two years old from what I heard. And finally, the three of them were _my_ students which means, they were trained by a Hokage. You're over qualified technically to be Hokage," Sarutobi explained to her.

She sighed, "I have absolutely no incentive to be Hokage. It's not my goal and not something I want. What about Minato-Sensei? He's skilled, powerful, intelligent, and incredibly fast."

"Mm, Minato was high up there with you on the candidate list. But in the end, I chose you. You're young and could have a lot of years as Hokage. Which means choosing the fifth would be very far into the future. This could be the best thing for you as well," he said.

 _You just don't want me turning into my father old man..._ , She thought. "Alright fine." She let out another sigh.

It was settled. Lady Zemaria Senju would become the Fourth Lord Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village. There were sure to be those who wouldn't be very happy with the Hokage's choice simply because of Zemaria's age and others who knew who her father was would likely think that she'd be a ruthless ruler who would use the people of the village as her test subjects. It didn't matter though since there was more to her than just Orochimaru's DNA. The people and shinobi kept forgetting that she also had Tsunade and Hashirama's DNA. The Senju side of her was what made her sweet and caring and have a huge love for her village.

The inauguration ceremony would take place two weeks later in order to get everything ready. Her new Hokage cloak had to be made, the Lord of the Land of Fire had to be informed, the villagers and shinobi had to be informed, and all of the paperwork had to be written up. The war may have ended, but the work needed to replace the fallen and fix any damage to the village had only begun. There was a lot of work to do. Sarutobi summoned Orochimaru and Tsunade to his office. The elders of the council as well as Danzō; the leader of The Foundation which was the underground variation of the Anbu Black Ops.

"You _what_?" Tsunade asked shocked.

"How did you end up choosing our daughter as Hokage and not me when I put my name in there for it?" Orochimaru asked a bit irritated by the choice.

Sarutobi groaned lightly, "Orochimaru, you lack the necessary qualities for being Hokage. Young Zemaria is not just your DNA but she is also Tsunade's and because of that, she possesses the personality of the First Hokage; Hashirama Senju. That alone qualifies her for the title of Hokage even at her drastically young age."

"Tch. Fine," he said and left the room without being dismissed.

"Orochimaru!" Sarutobi yelled but he ignored him.

He explained further to Tsunade who seemed rather proud about her daughter becoming Hokage. She thought Zemaria would turn out like Orochimaru but was no second guessing it. If Sarutobi trusted in her to be a good leader, then she could too. For the next two weeks things were being arranged and the village was undergoing much needed repairs. New Gennin and Jounin were being chosen. Until the village was back in order, the Chuunin exams would be on hold so no new Chuunin were being chosen.

Soon, it was time; Zemaria's inauguration for the title of Hokage. Her Hokage garment was finished just in time. Instead of the standard cloak like the Hokage before her wore, hers was more like a tailcoat shirt with the words 'Fourth Hokage' stitched on the back in kanji lettering. The shirt itself was red with a gold filigree design and gold lettering. It had no sleeve but instead, she had special arm sleeves made separately of the same color and design. The one little difference was the fact it had the Senju clan symbol embroidered onto the cuff area on the front and back of both sleeves. The shirt had the same symbol embroidered onto the slightly raised collar.

"Shinobi and residents of the Leaf; I Hiruzen Sarutobi am here to pass on the title Hokage to someone who played a very big part in this most recent war. She may be extremely young, but she will have great power, knowledge, and skill as both a Shinobi of this village and a great leader in the years to come! Now, it is time... to celebrate the new Fourth Hokage, Lady Zemaria Senju!" Sarutobi addressed the crowd.

Zemaria appeared and walked over to stand next to him, "I promise to all of you, I will protect this village even at the risk of my own life!"

Everyone muttered in confusion. They weren't sure how to react to such a child becoming Hokage. Was she really that powerful? How much of an impact did she have on the war?

"Lord Third said 'Senju'. Is she really from the Senju clan?" Someone whispered to another shinobi.

"She doesn't look like a Senju," another questioned.

Zemaria knew it would be difficult for them to accept her as Hokage. She had previously requested that Minato be the one to oversee her ninja training; at least in taijutsu and weaponry. From studying his fighting style, she had noticed he was able to use wind release which was something she wasn't able to use at all. At her current age, she was only able to use fire release and wood release.

"All right! Settle down everyone! I know she's young and by that, I mean she's only four. But I will be advising her until she's old enough to handle things on her own. You have no need to worry," he reassured.

"Lord Third, may I make another request?" She asked softly.

He nodded, "What is it?"

"I'd like there to be someone specific to be an adviser; Shikaku Nara," she told him.

"Mm? Shikaku Nara? Why him?" Sarutobi asked.

"I've known him since I was born and mother always works with him to get deer antlers for her medicines. He's become something like a big brother to me and I know he'd look after me. I also trust him a lot," she said.

He thought a moment, "Very well then. He does have excellent tactical skills and intelligence."


	2. Chapter 2: The Fourth Hokage

Chapter Two

The Fourth Hokage

Later that day, Shikaku had been summoned to the Hokage office. He was informed that Zemaria had requested that he be one of Zemaria's advisers during her position as Hokage. He seemed to be honored and accepted without any fuss. Shikaku started by helping Zemaria shorten the tower of papers that had to be signed and filed. He also helped her with choosing what teams and shinobi would be best for which missions.

For her first year as Hokage, things seemed to be moving smoothly. That is, until after she turned five and Minato's wife Kushina Uzumaki had become pregnant and was just about to go into labor. Kushina was currently the host of the nine-tailed demon fox named Kurama. She was a Jinchuuriki. There was one thing about female Jinchuuriki and being pregnant; the seal containing the tailed beast's spirit and chakra becomes increasingly weakened during child birth and must be maintained and strengthened at all times.

It was a very dangerous thing for both the host and everyone around. Kushina went into labor and Minato frantically ran around trying to gather everything needed for the delivery including special ninja to escort her to a specific place for the birth; a place far enough outside of the village that if anything went wrong, the people would be out of harms way. Everything was ready and Kushina had been prepped. The only thing left was for her to push. Minato was the one who was in charge of maintaining the seal on her stomach as she pushed the new baby out.

"Just one more push and the baby will be out," the medical ninja said.

"Aaah!" Kushina cringed with the final push.

The baby started crying. It was a boy and they had decided to name him Naruto Uzumaki. Minato got distracted by the golden haired infant that he almost lost concentration for the final strengthening of the seal. The ninja handed Naruto to Kushina telling Minato 'mother first.' Kushina smiled as did Minato. They were both excited and happy... until someone appeared before them. A masked man who swiped Naruto.

"Surrender the Jinchuuriki or say goodbye to your new child," the masked man demanded.

"What do you plan on doing with Kushina?" Minato asked defending his wife.

"Step aside and you'll soon find out!" He held a kunai to the baby's throat.

Minato had no choice. Kushina was too weak to defend herself or even more around too much. And he couldn't very well have let this masked intruder kill his child. He had to act fast and that's exactly what he did. As the _yellow flash of the Leaf_ , he used his speed in order to take back his son. However, the masked man managed to somehow teleport Kushina at the exact moment Minato took his son back. She was gone in an instant.

The man laughed and vanished himself. Minato was angered and a bit frustrated. He had to save his wife before the entire village was put in danger. Zemaria, who had recently acquired a new kekkei genkai from Orochimaru; the Rinne Sharingan which meant her right eye was that of the Rinnegan and the left was a Sharingan she was able to activate. Having said kekkei genkai, she was able to place receiving rods in her snakes and send them all over the village to be her 'eyes' for areas that were out of her sensing radius.

"Minato-Sensei! This isn't good. Something's wrong! Big brother!" She rushed off to find Shikaku.

"Lord Fourth? What's going on? What's the hurry?" A Jounin asked.

"There's no time to explain! Gather all available Chuunin and Jounin right away. I fear the village will soon be in great danger! I have to find Shikaku-Sama!" She yelled and ran off at full speed.

Listening carefully, she searched for her big brother's heartbeat. As she was searching for him, the masked man had Kushina restrained at both wrists and both ankles. Her stomach was still exposed from when Minato was maintaining the seal. The man called to the nine-tails to come out. The seal was still too weak to contain the beast. The nine-tails started leaking out of his host and the man laughed. He knew he'd succeed; especially with the village having a five year old as the Hokage.

There was nothing that could stop him and the Nine-Tails from destroying the village. At least; that's what he thought anyway. But what he didn't know was that Zemaria was also a Jinchuuriki. When she had just turned three, Orochimaru sealed inside of her the three-tailed turtle beast, Isobu. That was where a large percentage of her power came from aside from constantly training with her parents, Minato, and occasionally Shikaku.

"Are you sure about this?" Shikaku asked.

She nodded, "Yes. One of my snakes went with Minato-Sensei when Kushina-Chan went into labor. There was someone there who took her. This could turn into something really bad! I have to find them."

Shikaku ran along side her, " _You're_ going to try and handle this on your own? Doing that could get yourself killed!"

"It's better than the entire village getting destroyed! I want you, Inoichi, and Chouza to make sure that all of the women, children, and Gennin are safely evacuated just in case something goes wrong. Find Lord Fugaku and have him assemble all able bodied Uchiha and station them at the front. If the Nine-Tails gets anywhere near the village, they'll be the first ones who can come close to stopping him if I can't. Have a medical platoon ready in case of injuries and to minimize casualties," she instructed him.

"You want the Uchiha at the front; that close to the Nine-Tails?" He asked shocked.

"The Uchiha should not be feared in this village. I don't care if someone possessing the Sharingan is behind this attempt. It does _not_ mean that the person is residing inside the village nor does it mean they are part of the Uchiha clan. I trust the clan completely. I also need you to gather a team of the strongest Anbu to assist me," she said.

For being five, she had a massive level of knowledge. Like her father, she loved to experiment but she did it legally and never sacrificed people for the sake of her experiments. Because of this great love, she had also become a sort of bookworm which was partly thanks to her mother because of the medical field. Zemaria knew the name of every single person living in the village as well as every clan, the history of the village, every jutsu, every clan's special abilities and kekkei genkai, and the history of every clan. She also knew the names of every single Anbu and was not ignorant of anything that went on in the village.

She stopped suddenly. She could feel the intense and evil of chakra of the Nine-Tails. Kneeling down, she removed her leg weights and set them on the ground. If they got destroyed, she'd just get new ones. After telling Shikaku she could sense the Nine-Tails chakra, they split up. He went off to carry out her orders and she zipped off in the direction of the chakra. Minato was tied up trying to fight the masked man as Kurama started to come closer and closer to the village.

Suddenly, his chakra vanished from the area she was headed. As suddenly as it had disappeared, it reappeared... directly in the middle of the Leaf village. Zemaria stopped suddenly, turned toward the village, and stared in horror. She sped in the direction of the chakra only to have him vanish and end up in the village anyway. Enraged, she used everything she had to try and make it back to the village before too many people were hurt. The Uchiha were gathered and Fugaku had them surround the Nine-Tails until Zemaria returned.

"Don't let it destroy anymore of the village! Lord Fourth is counting on us to keep the beast under control!" Fugaku shouted.

The team of Anbu caught up to Zemaria even at her absolute top speed without her weights on. She slowed her pace so they could keep up with her easier. They informed her that almost sixty percent of the villagers and forty-five percent of all Gennin had been evacuated to the catacombs. All able bodied Chuunin and Jounin were working on evacuating the remaining percentage as well as trying to take down the Nine-Tails.

"Good. Do you know where Minato and Kushina are? I need to know that they are both okay," she asked.

"We have sent a team out to look for them and have prepared to treat any injuries," the Anbu informed.

"Alright then. I'll handle the Nine-Tails but I will need Minato's help getting it out of the village until I can find a way to seal it again," she told him.

The Anbu nodded and branched off to join the team that was sent to find the pair. By this time, Minato had located Kushina after teleporting Naruto to a safer place. He then teleported himself and Kushina to the same place. Setting his dying wife gently on the bed in the room, he picked up his ninja pouch and shuriken holster to help stop the Nine-Tails' attack. Kushina held Naruto close to her.

"There may be only one way to stop it; re-sealing it into-," he started.

"Minato! There has to be another way. I don't think I could ever put our son through something like that," her voice crackled with sadness.

"It'll be okay. He's the only one who would be able to sustain at least half of the Nine-Tails' chakra," Minato tried to tell her.

She was too weak to fight him on the matter and reluctantly agreed to go along with his plan. Even though he wasn't Hokage, he was determined on stopping the beast from destroying the entire village. Meanwhile, Zemaria made it back to the village just as fallen debris from a nearby building was going to land right on top of three Uchiha clan members; Mikoto, Itachi, and new baby Sasuke. She used her almighty push to move the debris safely away from them. The Nine-Tails had appeared dangerously close to where they were at. Itachi was surprised to see the Hokage right there in front of him. He had been impressed after she was announced as the Fourth Hokage at her age.

"Are you all okay?" She asked them, Sharingan activated.

"Yes, thank you Lord Fourth," Mikoto said in a sweet voice.

Itachi stared in awe. She had a Sharingan just like his father and many of the other Uchiha as well as a Rinnegan which was said could only be activated when one possessed the blood of both an Uchiha and a Senju. She aided the three to a safer spot and told them to get to the evacuation catacombs so they'd be out of harm's way. Mikoto and Itachi both nodded. He guided his mother and kid brother who was in Mikoto's arms in the direction of the Hokage stone faces where the catacombs were located. Itachi then branched off from them after he saw Izumi, a fellow Uchiha and academy student, same as him dangerously close to where the Nine-Tails was thrashing his tails around.

He came to her rescue without hesitation. Itachi was the same age as Zemaria; five years old. Like her, he had a great talent as a Shinobi even while still being an Academy student. He had speed, knowledge, and incredible skill. They say that a prodigy comes along once every generation or so but never had there been two prodigies in the same generation until Itachi and Zemaria's.

Zemaria quickly made her way to the location of the Nine-Tails and the Uchiha who were keeping things under control. Danzō got wind of how Zemaria was handling this catastrophe and tried to change her plan of having the Uchiha clan so close to the Nine-Tails. It was well known that the Sharingan was the one thing that could control a tailed beast and Danzō, much like the Second Hokage, didn't trust the Uchiha. He had it in his mind that they would use the Nine-Tails' attack in order to control it and take over the village.

He send his own Anbu to revoke their position and have them reassigned to evacuation duty. However, with Zemaria's speed, she was able to get several stragglers to safety and stop the order to move the Uchiha away from the Nine-Tails. While she was handling things in the village, Minato dealt with the masked man in another round of battling him outside the village. He was no match for him but he did manage to nail him directly in the stomach with his Rasengan jutsu. After the intruder retreated, Minato headed straight for the village.

"Minato!" The team of Anbu finally found him. "Minato! Lord Fourth needs your help with the Nine-Tails in order to get it out of the village!"

"I was just about to head back to the village to help with that," he told him.

"Where's Kushina? And the baby? Are they okay?" The Anbu asked.

"Don't worry, they're both fine. But Kushina won't last too much longer to I have to hurry. Without the Nine-Tails sealed inside of her, she'll die," he explained.

The Anbu team looked worried and they all hurried off toward the village. Zemaria pulled out all the stops. She used the divine gates to try and restrain the Nine-Tails. The divine gates was a summoning style jutsu which pulled a certain number of gates down onto the opponent in order restrict their movements and render them useless. It took everything she had to maintain the jutsu since the Nine-Tails was the most powerful of all the nine tailed beasts. The three tails wasn't nearly as powerful.

Fugaku appeared next to her, "Lord Fourth, are you sure you can maintain that jutsu until Minato gets here?"

She strained to keep control, "I have to! He's the only one who can transport it out of the village!"

He watched her as a burst of chakra flowed from her small body, "What do you want the Uchiha to do?"

"Use the Sharingan to try and calm it down. If you can control it enough maybe it will stop struggling so much and that can buy us some extra time until Minato arrives," she instructed.

Fugaku gathered his clan members and they concentrated on infiltrating the mind of the Nine-Tails in order to gain control of it. While they did that, the Anbu assisted Zemaria in restraining it. Minato was almost to the location. It didn't seem like the Nine-Tails was going to give up so easily, even with so many of the Uchiha using their Sharingan. Without warning, the gates restraining his tails, shattered.

They flailed around violently and destroyed everything that was in reach. That included Zemaria. One of the tails flung right at her while she was attempting to regain control of the gates and summon new ones to restrain the tails. The tail made direct contact with her and threw her far until she eventually hit a building that hadn't been touched by the rampaging beast. Upon impact, Zemaria coughed up a fairly good amount of blood.

She fell from the side of the building, unable to gather herself due to the fatigue from using so much of her chakra trying to restrain the Nine-Tails. As she fell, someone had caught her mid-fall; it was Minato. He had made it to the Nine-Tails but as soon as Zemaria had flown from the hit, he threw one of his special kunai in her direction. He saved her from the fall and teleported back to the Nine-Tails.

"Sensei... we need to teleport it out of the village. Can you manage that?" She asked.

"Don't worry about it. I have a plan. You should take it easy. You almost got yourself killed," he said.

"No way. I'm the Fourth Hokage. I will defend this village and the people in it even at the cost of my life," she told him. She was a very stubborn child.

Minato shook his head in defeat. He lost to a five year old. As the Nine-Tails made another attempt to destroy the village, it didn't seem as violent as the first time. It appeared as though the use of the Sharingan had at least some affect in calming it's movements down. That was a good sign. Minato set Zemaria down and got ready to teleport the Nine-Tails and himself away from the village.

"Lord Fugaku, you're coming along with me. I'll need you to choose one other member of your clan as well just to be on the safe side," Zemaria told him.

"Yes, Lord Hokage," he replied and chose the person that came close to his own level of power.

Zemaria instructed the two to place a hand on either of her shoulders. She wove a stream of hand signs and they disappeared from the village along with Minato and the Nine-Tails. Exhausted, Zemaria's vision became slightly clouded. The jutsu she used had that side affect because it used the Mangekyou Sharingan and the Rinnegan together. It was a very risky type of jutsu to be using. Using it with only herself would have been just fine, but she also had to teleport Fugaku and his other member.

They had appeared right along with Minato and Kurama. There was another jutsu that was involved with her teleportation; the chakra bracelet which Minato happened to have his left wrist marked with it. It was a special jutsu which allowed the user to be alerted when the wearer was near death, dying, or just died. Minato noticed Zemaria's eyes were lightly clouded over.

"Lord Fourth... your vision-," he started, concerned.

"Don't worry about it. My eyes will regenerate its vision over time. I can see enough but my ability with using the Sharingan and Rinnegan has been weakened. What are you planning on doing with your new son and wife? I sense their presence nearby," she said.

"I can't put one passed you, can I?" He laughed lightly trying to lighten the mood some. "I intend to use a forbidden jutsu and a second sealing jutsu to split the Nine-Tails in half. I'll seal one half inside of myself, and the other inside of my son, Naruto," he explained.

Zemaria put focused what vision she had on Kurama, "No. I can seal half of him inside of a scroll or even re-seal it inside of Kushina. Fugaku, see if you two can calm it down further."

"Very well then," he replied and activated his Mangekyou.

Minato stared at her and how well she did taking charge of this situation. She told him if he really wanted to seal part of it inside of his son, he should get everything ready but she wasn't going to allow him to sacrifice himself while his wife had only one result from having the Nine-Tails removed; death. She didn't want to see their son growing up as an orphan. He nodded, and hurried to them both. Once he was with them, he explained the changed in the plan to Kushina. She insisted on helping and used her Uzumaki special ability and released a whole bunch of golden colored chains to help restrain the Nine-Tails.

Zemaria took a scroll from her sleeve and unrolled it. Using a soft brush, she wrote on the middle of the paper. She closed her eyes and focused on Isobu. In order to make the sealing jutsu work, she needed to gather the right amount of chakra and for that to happen, she needed Isobu's help. Kushina's chains held the fox down but she didn't have a lot of chakra to maintain it for very long. She tried to hold on as long as she could manage while Minato got everything ready on his end.

"Alright Lady Zemaria! Everything's ready here," Minato finally said.

Zemaria opened her eyes, "Just in time Sensei." She wove several hand signs. "Tailed beast sealing art: Nine-Tails chakra Seal!"

Simultaneously, Minato performed an 8 tetragram seal. Zemaria managed to seal exactly half of the Nine-Tails' chakra inside of the scroll. While Minato was working on sealing the other half inside of baby Naruto, the fox broke free from Kushina's chains and once realizing what the human was up to, went in to attack the baby. As protective parents, both Minato and Kushina acted on instinct to protect their child. Zemaria acted on impulse as both Hokage and Minato's student and instantly used the Almighty Push to save him just as the fox's huge claw pierced Kushina.

Blood dripped from her stomach. The claw was in deep. Zemaria had tried to save both with that attack but it only worked on Minato. She had planned on saving them both, use Susano'o to protect the baby, and then reseal the other half of the Nine-Tails inside of Kushina before she died. But that planned had failed. Only Minato was spared from being pierced by the Nine-Tails' claw. Minato, though upset about his wife being pierced by the fox, shook his head to refocus his attention on sealing the rest of the fox demon inside of Naruto.

"Now Sensei!" Zemaria yelled.

He nodded, "Right!"

After weaving the hand signs once more, he sealed the remaining half of the Nine-Tails inside of his infant son. A seal appeared on his stomach. It was done; the fox demon was gone, there was minimal injury and death, and the village was safe again. Minato rushed to his wife's side and held her close. She told him to make sure he took good care of their son and to raise him right and keep him well fed. Before she left the world of the living, he was able to seal what chakra she had left inside of Naruto.

Zemaria smiled even though she was upset about Kushina's death and then collapsed. Her limit was well past what it should have been. That sealing jutsu combined with a reflexive use of the Almighty Push was what over did it. She fell unconscious and the protective barrier Minato had created at the start after teleporting the fox came down. Sarutobi, several shinobi, and a few teams of Anbu appeared from behind a line of trees. They had been rushing to find Zemaria and the others with her.

"Lord Fourth!" One Anbu shouted and hurried over to her.

"Minato, what happened?" Sarutobi asked as he reached him.

"Lady Zemaria sealed half of the Nine-Tails inside of a scroll. I managed to seal the other half inside of my son. Kushina didn't survive," Minato explained.

Fugaku explained the rest that lead up to that point, "Lord Fourth instructed myself and one clan member to use the Sharingan in order to calm the fox down enough to perform the sealing jutsus. Kushina then used her ability to restrain the fox with chains while Lord Fourth and Minato did the sealing."

Sarutobi was amazed that Zemaria would have trusted the Uchiha clan enough to even let them that close to the Nine-Tails. This made him believe that Danzō's notions about the clan potentially using the demon fox to their advantage and taking control over the village was completely false. They didn't even have a thought or mind to do such a thing. In fact, they were the most helpful in controlling the fox in order to save the village; not destroy it. He ordered a few shinobi to have a medical team come and assist in taking care of Zemaria. Minato was still cradling Kushina in his arms. She was his first and only love; the person who completed him. Now he was without her, but he did have his son and that was something to be happy about.

Zemaria, Minato, and Naruto were all taken to the hospital once the medical team arrived. Kushina's body was gently carried off to be prepared for the funeral service. A vast majority of the village was in ruins. Most of the homes the Uchiha were living in were destroyed by the fox. Sarutobi found Shikaku and instructed him to go to all of the evacuated and let them know that the village was safe again and they could return. They all neatly exited the catacombs and made their way back to ground level and started back towards the village's buildings.

At the hospital, Minato and Naruto were looked over. Neither of them had any wounds but Minato was exhausted from using up so much of his chakra in order to stop the fox. Zemaria wasn't as lucky. Though she had no physical wounds since they all healed with the help of her cell regeneration power from having Hashirama's cells mixed into her and the power of the three tails that almost no one knew she had, her injuries were all revolved around loss of chakra. Because of that, she was close to death after trying to over exert herself to save the village. She'd recover with enough time and rest.

"Excuse me, I was wondering how Lady Zemaria was doing," Minato inquired to a nearby nurse.

"Lady Zemaria... let's see...," she looked at her chart papers. "Ah! Here it is. Lord Fourth is in a critical state right now. She's not in any danger in concerns to physical injuries, but she's used up so much of her chakra that it's thrown her into a sort of comatose state."

Minato gasped lightly, "Comatose? Thank you for the information." He hurried off to find her parents.

Minato was able to find Orochimaru first. He had been scouting the village for any injured shinobi. Tsunade had already left the village after deciding to leave for a while to get away from all of the fighting and bloodshed. She had no idea the Nine-Tails had even been released and had attacked the village. Catching up to Orochimaru, he told him what had happened and that Zemaria was in the hospital unconscious in a comatose state. Right away, being the caring father he was, Orochimaru hurried to the hospital to be at his daughter's bedside.

After a few days, Sarutobi, and the council which unfortunately included Danzō, gathered to have a meeting in order to discuss how to assess the damage done to the village. Right away, despite the huge part the Uchiha clan had in helping to stop the Nine-Tails, Danzō insisted that the clan have its own district near the border of the village. He still didn't trust them and was insistent on thinking they'd one day plan to destroy the village and everyone in it.

"That's a horrible idea! They were the ones who helped the Fourth Hokage in stopping the fox. If they wanted to destroy the village further, they never would have bothered to help. They would have used their Sharingan to take full control over the demon and kill everyone! Confining them into one district and shoving them towards the border would be more cause for them to go against the village than having them spread all over it," Sarutobi argued.

Shikaku was also at the meeting as a substitute for Zemaria's absence, "I agree with Lord Third. It was Lord Fourth who trusted the Uchiha clan enough to send them to the front lines right in view of the Nine-Tails. She even pulled Lord Fugaku and one other clan member to assist her personally after Minato teleported the fox out of the village. They should be seen as heroes in this, not as an enemy."


	3. Chapter 3: Uchiha And Senju

Chapter Three

Uchiha and Senju

"Let me ask you something Shikaku; why are you here at this meeting?" Danzō asked smugly.

"To put it bluntly, Lord Fourth has it in writing that if something should ever happen to her to put her in a position where she's unable to act as Hokage or attend meetings with the council or Lord of the Land of Fire, _I_ will be the one to act in her stead. Thereby granting me full range in making decisions on her behalf. In which case, without _my_ approval it will be harder to put your little plan into action. Essentially, _I'm_ the 'acting Hokage' until she wakes up," Shikaku explained simply.

Danzō grumbled in irritation. He underestimated Zemaria's capabilities as Hokage because of her young age. Though, he knew she'd be smarter than most in her age group simply because of Orochimaru being her father. She truly was a clever child seeing as Orochimaru was on _his_ side and she was fully against trusting him.

' _Yes, that's why she did that. It's because she knew I would pull a stunt like this; condensing the Uchiha clan to a single district near the edge of the village. Damn it! I can't do anything with Shikaku in charge like this,'_ he thought.

He lost this argument but he wasn't about to give up destroying the Uchiha. Shikaku suggested temporarily setting up small but livable shacks for everyone that had their homes and businesses destroyed until things were able to be rebuilt. The elders; Homura and Koharu agreed to the plan and told Shikaku to handle the construction of temporary housing. Sarutobi kept growing more and more impressed with Zemaria's skills as Hokage. The meeting was dismissed after a location was decided on for the temporary homes.

Shikaku got to work gathering the necessary shinobi and residents who were skilled in building. He separated them into two groups; one would build the temporary homes and business buildings and the other would start rebuilding the the homes and businesses that were destroyed in the attack. Danzō feeling defeated, went back to his underground to come up with a new plan to have the Uchiha meet their demise. Almost two weeks went by before Zemaria finally started to regain consciousness. Orochimaru had gone to her room every single day and stayed through the night each time. He only left to get something to eat or use the bathroom.

Zemaria slowly opened her eyes, "Mm..." As she turned her head, she noticed her father. His head was resting on the side of her bed on his right arm and he was fast asleep. "Father...?"

Orochimaru's fingers twitched before he lifted his head and opened his eyes, "Zem? You're awake?" He yawned.

"How are things in the village?" Was the first thing she asked him.

"Shikaku has taken care of things. Anyone who had their home or business destroyed in the attack are going to be staying in temporary homes in one specific location until the damaged buildings have been repaired and rebuilt," he informed.

"And the Uchiha?" She asked.

He placed a hand gently on her cheek, "They'll be able to stay spread out around the village. Shikaku told me Danzō tried to confine them to a single district near the border of the village."

She started to scootch herself up. Orochimaru helped her and pulled her pillow up so it was against her back. She yawned. Sleeping for so long, it was weird being awake again. It seemed like Orochimaru was more focused and more jumpy since Zemaria was taken to the hospital. He only wanted to take care of her and make her more comfortable. There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Zemaria said.

The door opened and Minato walked in holding baby Naruto, "Oh, Lord Orochimaru, I didn't know you were still here. And I see you're awake Lady Zemaria. That's good."

Zemaria adjusted herself again, "Hey Sensei. How's Naruto doing?"

"He's doing good. I thought I'd stop in here and see how you were coming along since he had a check up anyway. When did you wake up?"

"About ten minutes ago I'd say. Father's been here this whole time," she smiled.

"Well then, that's good to hear," he said and turned to Orochimaru. "I'm glad you're such a devoted father. She really looks up to you."

Orochimaru half assed smiled, "I try. Tsunade left the village so I'm really all Zem has now. And even when her mother was still here, she didn't pay her much mind. Because of that, Zem attached herself to me instead."

Minato seemed surprised Tsunade would behave that way, "Oh. I didn't know Tsunade didn't take an interest in her own child."

"Mm... it's quite the long story," he plainly said.

They chatted for a little while as construction continued in the village. One of the nurses came to the room to check on Zemaria and was pleasantly surprised to see she was awake and coherent. She informed Lord Third and informed him she should be able to leave the hospital in another four to five days. After a short while, Minato and Orochimaru left the room to let Zemaria get a little more rest. It didn't last very long because there was soon another knock on her door.

"Come in," she said.

This time, Fugaku and Itachi entered, "I had heard you were awake."

"Lord Fugaku it's good to see you. I wanted to thank you and your clan for the help during the attack. I was right to have the Uchiha there directly handling the situation alongside myself and the other shinobi and Anbu that had a part in it," she said.

"I appreciate you being able to trust my clan to be that close to a tailed beast without fearing we'd take control and destroy the village further. I too wanted to thank you for that. I will admit that having someone the same age as my eldest son being Hokage, I had my doubts. I thought you'd be an easier target for the council to control and bend to their will. The will pertaining specifically to the Uchiha in order to eventually twist our feelings and wipe us out because of fear," he explained.

Zemaria smiled lightly, "I would much rather follow the teachings and beliefs of my great grandfather as opposed to his brother. Lord First wanted the fighting to stop; especially between the Senju and the Uchiha. I believe that I can make that happen still but this time around since mother and I are really the only Senju remaining, I'd unite the Uchiha with the entire village. If both the people of the village and the Uchiha worked together to be friendly, kind to each other, and helpful then I know we can all live here in peace. That's my goal."

Itachi seemed to be moved by what Zemaria had said. He too wanted to end fighting but he wanted to end it everywhere he could. It wasn't just the Leaf village, but all of the Shinobi world. One day, he would be strong enough to create a world of peace and harmony. He smiled a small smile, happy that he wasn't the only one who felt this way. When he had told his classmates what his dream was, they all laughed at him like it was some kind of ridiculous notion or a joke. But here was the Fourth Hokage who was the same age as him and had the same goal; peace and to end the fighting.

It was settled. Itachi decided Zemaria would be the person he admired and looked up to even if they were the same age. It made sense; looking up to someone who thought the same as you. Zemaria herself took a liking to Itachi. He seemed interesting to her ever since her first meeting with him during the Nine-Tails attack. She had seen him protect his mom and baby brother from the falling debris the first time.

She wondered what else there was to him and his personality. She also couldn't wait to get out of the hospital. Staying in one place for a long time made her antsy. She never liked it at all. The first thing she wanted to do was go back to her training. Perhaps young Itachi would want to train with her.

"Lord Fourth, may I ask you something?" Itachi finally spoke.

"Of course," she said.

"How did you get to be so strong and powerful? You're five like I am and yet I feel like being at the Academy, I can't further progress my strength and challenge myself," he told her.

She thought a moment, "Hm, let me see. I guess it would have to be due to having two Sannin as my parents to start with. Besides that factor, father had performed several experiments on my which one of them resulted in the Rinne Sharingan I have. He tried to create a whole new kekkei genkai and one other experiment he did had a permanent side affect which created the sensory ability I have. Other than that, all three Sannin had trained me. Father started training me when I turned two; the moment I could stand and walk on my own. So there's that and then testing my abilities in the last war..."

"You fought in the war that war?" Itachi asked shocked.

"That's right. I fought alongside my parents and even was part of Minato-Sensei's team temporarily after they lost a team member," she told him.

Itachi was amazed to learn all of this. It meant that now he had to train even harder just to come close to her power. Perhaps making her his rival would give him even more encouragement to work harder than he's ever had before. He was determined on getting stronger, and learning from Zemaria was a key factor in reaching his goal. Fugaku and Zemaria finished their conversation and he and Itachi went on their way.

A few days later, Zemaria gained back enough energy and chakra that she was allowed to leave and go back to assuming her responsibilities as Hokage. In her down time, she and Itachi trained together. They tried to outrun each other until Zemaria cheated by taking her leg weights off. Itachi called her out on it and she just laughed. Then she let him in on the secret to her speed and how she got it to that level.

Soon, she was invited to the Academy to demonstrate some of her abilities to one of the classes. It so happened to be Itachi's class and coincidentally they were going to have their kunai and shuriken training where they had to hit targets set around the Academy grounds. The teacher asked her to first watch the class and see how they performed as individuals. Then she'd show them what she could do. Each child was able to hit all of the targets within at least one minute. Itachi managed to do it in twenty-five seconds.

The last student did it. It took him forty seconds to complete and he had missed one of the targets. It was Zemaria's turn. She closed her eyes, had her kunai and shuriken ready, and waited for the teacher to tell her to go. He looked at his stop watch, clicked the button and said 'go!' She was gone in a flash; even faster than Minato. Five seconds later, she reappeared before them. The teacher checked all of the targets and each one had at least one kunai or shuriken pierced through either the head or the heart.

The class was amazed and impressed. Itachi stood in a frozen shock. She was so fast and so accurate. She hit every single target directly in a kill spot and she hadn't even seen the location of the targets beforehand. How did she know where they all were? The teacher was also amazed but then again, that's why Zemaria was the Hokage. More interestingly, she was the youngest Hokage in the entire history of the village.

"Well... I know who would have been the top student in the entire Academy if she were a student," the teacher complimented.

Zemaria lightly rubbed her hand over the back of her head and laughed, "Top student? I don't about top student."

 _'I wonder if I'll ever be able to come close to her type of power.'_ Itachi wondered.

"A lot of you young future shinobi could learn a few things from Lord Fourth. But speed and accuracy aren't the only things needed to be great shinobi," the teacher said.

Some of the students started to grumble. The Hokage was the same age as most of them and yet she was so much better at everything. One was supposed to also have a lot of experience in order to be Hokage. Zemaria fought in one war and it was towards the end of it no less but there she was as Hokage. It didn't makes sense to them. Months went by like it was nothing. Then years. It was when Itachi turned eleven that he was recommended to join the Anbu Black Ops. Sasuke was six years old and was about to enter into the Academy same as Naruto.

As Hokage, it was Zemaria's duty to introduce the new students into the Academy during the entrance ceremony. She was to give a speech welcoming them and encouraging them to do their best and graduate to become shinobi. Over the years, she had spent a lot of her free time around Itachi and Sasuke had grown used to her presence. A lot of the Uchiha had started to talk amongst each other about Itachi and Zemaria being in love with each other. They did seem to really like each other and enjoy the others company.

All of the new students started gathering at the Academy in the auditorium. Each one took a seat and waited for things to start. The parents smiled and told their child how proud they were that they were going to start on the path to becoming shinobi. After a short while, the Third Hokage came out onto the stage. He cleared his throat and everyone fell silent.

"Welcome everyone to the entrance ceremony to indite the all of the children here today into the Ninja Academy! Lord Fourth will be giving an encouraging speech to get the spirits pumping," he said cheerfully.

That was Zemaria's queue and she walked onto the stage next to Sarutobi, "Good morning everyone! Shinobi. What does it mean to be a shinobi? Well, I'll tell you my definition of it. To me, a shinobi is someone who is skilled in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and if they have the ability; genjutsu with the capability to fight for their village, their homeland, and their comrades. But it's not just enough to be skilled in those three fighting styles. You need tactical skills, intelligence, knowledge in medicine and spirit."

She paused to take a breath, "Lord Third, much like my great grandfather the First Lord Hokage, believed that the shinobi of the Leaf carried the will of fire. Each and every one of us have it; the passion and will to fight and defend the things and people we love the most. Being in the Academy means you all have the opportunity to learn and hone your individual skills as a shinobi. All of you have your own specialties whether it's taijutsu, specific ninjutsu, genjutsu, or even a knack for healing and using medical ninjutsu and creating new medicines. These things just need to be discovered with the right amount of training and education. Growing up, I had a deep fascination with reading. I know every single person's name, clan, specialties, potentials, and the entire history of this village. Would anyone like to ask me any question they want?"

She waited. Then someone raised their hand; it was Sasuke, Itachi's little brother, "I have a question. How was the Hidden Leaf founded?"

"A very good question. It all started when Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha first encountered each other. This was during the warring era before shinobi villages were even thought of. Hashirama's clan; the Senju, and Madara's clan; the Uchiha were the two main clans that were at war with each other in the Land of Fire. Both were very young when they met and both ended up losing one of their brothers each during the never ending war," she started off.

 _FLASHBACK_

A young boy stood in front of the clam river skipping stones across the clear water. His hair was black and in a sort of bowl cut but with a little bit of length in the back. Around his neck was a cream colored scarf. His pants were up past his hips with a thin belt tied around it. He wore a black shirt sleeved shirt with another opened shirt over top of it. While he skipped stones, another boy about his same age noticed him.

This boy had short black spiked hair. He wore a simple black kimono. The boy watched silently from the distance. He was unsure as to whether this strange haired boy was a friend or an enemy. They were in a time of war; namely two main clans in the Land of Fire. Those clans were the Uchiha and the Senju.

The spike haired boy finally approached the other boy, "I'll bet I can skip rocks even further than you can."

"Huh!?" The boy whipped around surprised. "Who are _you_?"

"Oh! Did I scare you?" The first boy asked.

The other boy shook his head quick, "No, you just took me by surprise is all. I mean, we _are_ in the middle of a war after all."

The boy laughed, "Yes, we are. My name is Madara."

"It's nice to meet you Madara. I'm Hashirama," he greeted him back.

The boys didn't tell each other their clan names. They just simply started talking about how they didn't like all of this fighting and how much death it's caused. How each of them had lost so many from their clans because of it. Madara picked up a flat smooth stone and chucked it across the water's surface. It bounced twice and then sunk down into the water.

Hashirama giggled and did the same thing. His rock bounced along the surface four times before it kerplunked under the water. Soon, the sun started to set and the two boys went their separate ways. It felt good to have something other than fighting to focus on. Making a new friend was just the distraction both Madara and Hashirama needed.

 _END FLASHBACK_

"The two kids were friends in secret after their fathers discovered which clan each was from. Eventually, Hashirama told Madara of his dream to create a village for the Senju and Uchiha to live in peace as well as many other clans. It would even have a leader and a school for the children so they wouldn't have to needlessly go into battle without any proper training and education and there could be a specific age at which one could become a shinobi. Madara thought it would be a wonderful idea. Then one day, the two found the perfect spot for their dream to come to fruition; that would be the current Leaf village today. Well, both Madara and Hashirama built the village and named it Konohagakure; the village hidden in the leaves," Zemaria took a deep breath and paused before trying to continue.

She closed her eyes and started again, "While deciding on a leader, the name of that leader would be known as Hokage. Hashirama wished to have his friend to be the very first Lord Hokage. However, the people of the village had voiced that they didn't want Madara as Hokage but instead, they wanted Hashirama to be their leader. This highly upset Madara even if he wasn't going to say it to his friend. Upon trying to convince Madara to stay in the village, Hashirama suggested and offered to make him his successor as the second Hokage. But Madara knew in his heart that Tobirama Senju; Hashirama's younger brother would ultimately succeed him. With that knowledge, Madara left the village and promised to keep Hashirama on his toes by coming back and fighting him. What started out as a sort of friend versus friend type of deal, turned into serious battles with killing intents."

 _FLASHBACK_

"This is the perfect spot Madara!" Hashirama smiled big.

"The perfect spot? For what?" He asked confused.

Hashirama just laughed at him, "For our dream. Remember? Building a village for our clans and many others to live together in peace and harmony. And to build a ninja academy for the kids to learn and grow into strong shinobi! Don't tell me you forgot about all of that."

Madara laughed as well, "You were serious about that?"

The two were now adults and the fighting had calmed down from what it had been when they were kids. Now would be the perfect time for putting their dream into action and bringing everyone together. They stood at the top of the mountainside that overlooked the forest below. The mountains wrapped around the trees creating a sort of protective border. It really was perfect for a village and clans to live in peace.

As the wind blew lightly through their hair, they stared out to the trees. It seemed they were both deep in thought as if to plan the entire village out in their heads; figuring out houses, business, where the school would be, how everything would be laid out. The next question was; what would the name of the village be? Would it be something easy to remember, or something with real meaning to it? Who would lead the people of the village? What would the rules and laws be?

"Hashirama, what would be call the village? What name would we give it?" Madara asked.

"How about... Konohagakure?" He suggested.

"Konohagakure? The village hidden in the leaves? It's not very creative," he told him.

Hashirama laughed again, "I think it suits it just fine!"

They both laughed together and talked about when they were kids as well as how they hoped the future would be. Soon enough, the day came when the village was finally starting to come together. The two friends were proud of their accomplishment and started making arrangements to figure out who would be the very first leader of their new home. First thing to do was giving the leader a real title. It was decided the leader would be known as Hokage; meaning fire shadow.

The people of the village all agreed and chose Hashirama as their first Hokage. Hashirama however, hoped that Madara would have been the first Hokage; not him. The decision upset Madara so he went to his clan members and tried to change their minds on staying in the village. He told them that if Hashirama was going to be the first Hokage, then his brother Tobirama would end up succeeding him as the Second Hokage. If that happened, the Uchiha clan would be doomed.

This was because Tobirama was the exact opposite from Hashirama; he hated and distrusted the Uchiha. Hashirama had faith that one day the Uchiha and Senju along with everyone in the village would be able to live together and get along. He even strived for that as the outcome of his dream while being in the Leaf village. The Uchiha didn't believe Madara and insisted on remaining in the village. They claimed he was overreacting and their clan would be just fine and even prosper from living there.

"Why? Why do you have to leave? Madara, we built this village together; with our own two hands. The people will come around. You'll see. They're all just misunderstanding. You can be the Second Hokage," Hashirama tried to convince him to stay.

They were in the newly built Uchiha underground shrine, "I would think Tobirama would succeed you as the Second Hokage. I've tried to get my clansmen to leave with me but they won't budge. If Tobirama becomes Hokage, my clan will be doomed."

Hashirama gasped lightly, "What about our dream? We have the village we talked about all those years ago. We shared the same dream; to end the fighting and bring peace to the world."

"I have a new dream now. I'll leave the village until my new dream is realized," he informed him.

"Oh? What dream is that," Hashirama asked him.

"There's no need to explain it to you now. I look forward to meeting you in combat, my friend," he said and left.

Several years passed before Madara made an appearance again. He attacked the village and attracted Hashirama's attention. He couldn't believe that his own friend would attack the village he helped to create. Hashirama had no choice but to fight him. On and off they fought each other. Each battle grew more and more intense.

Hashirama then made a choice; he would protect the village no matter what. After so many battles between him and Madara, it would all come to an end. They had one last fight with each other.

"Whether you're friend or family, if you threaten _my_ village, I will kill you! It doesn't matter to me. I will protect the Hidden Leaf no matter what!" He yelled and dealt the final blow, killing Madara.

 _END FLASHBACK_

"At that point, Hashirama decided that enough was enough. The safety and growth of _his_ village was far more important than his friend. In the end, Hashirama took the final battle very seriously and ended the life of someone he saw as not only his best friend, but also someone he considered to be a brother. After all of that, over the years and through the generations it's been said that it was the First and Second Hokage who built the Leaf but in actuality, it was Lord First and Madara Uchiha," She took a deep breath and Sarutobi handed her a bottle of water.

All of them sat in complete silence. They didn't know how to respond. Most of them hadn't even known the real story behind the village's creation. How did she know all of this? Where had this information been kept? Sasuke was floored learning something he never knew about his clan. The Senju and Uchiha were supposed to live in peace together in the village but then all of this dark hatred had been created and was going on long before the village was built.

Zemaria asked if there were any other questions. Otherwise she'd move on to the next thing on the list; the introduction of the teachers the kids would likely have. Among the teachers were Asuma Sarutobi, Iruka Umino, and Suzume. After a few minutes of no response, she moved on and asked each of the teachers to come on stage and introduce themselves. After which, she explained how things would work in terms of students being placed in each teacher's class and homerooms.

Finally, each teacher explained what subject they were going to teach and what it entailed. After everything was explained, everyone was dismissed. The kids were instructed to head to their assigned classrooms for homeroom. As the adults started to leave, there was one person Zemaria had noticed early on that wasn't there; Itachi. She knew she hadn't sent him on a mission, so why didn't he show up? She decided to go find him once she was able to leave.


	4. Chapter 4: Romance

"You know, I think by now your entire clan thinks we're dating," Zemaria said to Itachi.

They were sitting at the base of the First Hokage's statue at the Final Valley. It was their special spot where they would train together. That spot was also the final battle ground for the fight between Hashirama and Madara; hence the name. Today it was a quiet sunny day and the wind was barely blowing.

"Yeah. I heard them talking to each other. Everyone is saying things because we spend so much time together," he replied.

"Well... what would you say our relationship to each other is? Friends? Close friends? Best friends? Sibling friends? Or are you actually interested in me that way? You barely ever show emotion so it's sometimes difficult to figure out. Besides, you're also super quiet," she told him.

Itachi thought for a moment, "My only focus is to train and become the strongest shinobi I can be. I don't have time to fall in love or have romance in my life or a girlfriend."

Zemaria laughed at him, "You know, you can have romance in your life and keep training." She wrapped an arm around his shoulders, lightly pressing her forearm to his neck. "I've always found you to be interesting. I'd say, I love you just the way you are and being Hokage, I shouldn't have much time for love either! We are two peas in a pod Itachi. We're strong, skilled, and unstoppable. You and I are exactly like Hashirama and Madara's friendship from their early days; before the Leaf was created."

Itachi realized she was right. Before the village was created, Hashirama and Madara were best friends. They didn't fight at all.

"What if our friendship turned into what Lord First's and Madara's became after the village was built? We could end up being the next Uchiha-Senju final valley fight right here," Itachi said, worried.

Zemaria latched onto him in a hug, "It won't happen. We'll be the same as we always are; forever."

She nuzzled his cheek with hers. Itachi turned his head towards her. As he did, their lips touched gently by accident. They both widened their eyes before relaxing them again. Fate had decided the Senju and the Uchiha should be together as more than just friends. Itachi placed his hand on the side of Zemaria's cheek.

They kissed for real this time. They were still too young to go further with things. The kissing lasted several minutes. Zemaria sensed someone; Fugaku. She pulled back from Itachi's lips and embrace. He stared at her in confusion until he realized his father was approaching from the trees.

"Itachi, what are you doing all the way out here near the border?" He asked.

"Lord Fourth and I always come here to train. Today we just wanted to relax and enjoy the weather. Though, I'd rather be training," he said as he playfully stared at Zemaria.

Fugaku groaned lightly, "Your mother was looking for you. She wanted to know if you could get Sasuke after class let out."

Itachi nodded, "Of course father. Oh, I'll be leaving later today for a mission. I thought I'd let you know."

Zemaria's eyes shifted slightly towards him. She never gave him a mission. Although, there had to be a reason why he'd say that so she gave no hint otherwise that she knew he was lying. Fugaku stared in suspicion. Itachi stood up and offered a hand to Zemaria to help her up. She graciously accepted, placed her hand on his, and he lifted her up gently.

She turned to Fugaku and bowed respectfully before she and Itachi walked by him. Even though Fugaku appreciated Zemaria taking steps to ensure the village accepted and respected his clan, he still had ill feelings toward the Senju clan. It stemmed from the Second Hokage; Tobirama. He was the one who distrusted the Uchiha. Almost two years went by. Sasuke was at the top of his class while Naruto was at the bottom.

Minato had his hands full raising him by himself. Every day since his birth and Kushina's death, he would visit her grave. Someone else who went to the cemetery every day was Kakashi Hatake. He went to see his teammate Rin. While Minato was visiting Kushina and telling her all about Naruto, Naruto was getting himself into trouble. Because his dad was always on missions, Naruto barely ever saw him. Then there was the fact that everyone in the village looked at him weird like he was some sort of monster.

Today, Naruto decided to deface the Hokage mountainside images. He doodled on each one starting with the First and ending with the Fourth with different colored paints. As he laughed at his handy work, he ran off through the village. At the same time of this, Zemaria and Itachi were in their backup secret place. They were all over each other and about to take things one step further.

Their secret romp with each other was interrupted by Shikaku, "Lord Fourth, we have a problem."

"How do all of our spots get found out?" She asked Itachi.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Beats me."

Shikaku set his hand on his forehead and shook his head, "Naruto has defaced the Hokage mountainside. What do you intend to do about this?"

"Send Iruka to find him. He's his teacher after all and he should be in class right now. Have him supervise Naruto as he cleans the Hokage faces. Where's Minato? He's not on a mission so he should be here to discipline his son," Zemaria sighed.

"Hm... I would imagine he's visiting Kushina's grave about now. He seems to go there every day," Shikaku deduced.

Shikaku, as a parent didn't think the two should have been sneaking off to do adult activities. He firmly told them to break it up and Zemaria to do something about Naruto. Itachi leaned to the side and removed himself from over top of her. She fixed herself up and stood up. Shikaku turned and walked off and she reluctantly followed.

When they entered the office at the Hokage mansion, Minato had been found and summoned. He was waiting there for her. Of course, Minato wasn't very happy about learning his son was acting out the way he was. Zemaria silently walked by him and sat down behind her desk. She waited a moment before addressing the issue at hand.

"I know, Naruto has been causing problems lately. I don't know what to do with him," Minato started off.

"I think it might have something to do with being sent on missions constantly. Here's what I can do; I can either give you a couple of weeks vacation so you have free time to spend with him, or I can offer to train him outside of classes a little and burn off some of that extra energy he has. You and I know Naruto and I are the same," Zemaria suggested.

 _'Huh? Her and Naruto are the same? What does she mean by that?'_ Shikaku wondered. He didn't know Zemaria was a Jinchuuriki.

Minato let out a sigh, "Time off would be nice but-"

"But you're rather be out and about? Is that what you're saying Sensei?" Zemaria asked.

"Well... it's just that- traveling makes for the best distraction you know? However, I wouldn't mind the time off if it means spending time with my son and keeping him out of trouble. I promised his mom that I'd take good care of him and raise him right. It seems like I've failed to do that," he said.

"Don't count yourself out just yet. You've tried your best up until now to keep him on the right track. Keep in mind, he and I both know what it's like to have people look at you the way they do to us. Even as Hokage, I still get a few of those looks. And for me, it's because of my father. For Naruto it's completely different," she said. "Two weeks off. As soon as Iruka finds him and has him clean the Hokage stone faces, you can take that vacation."

"Very well then. I'd also have no problem with him getting extra training outside of school with someone instead of just by himself," he said.

She dismissed him. Meanwhile, Naruto was trying to hide from his Sensei. He used a disguise jutsu to blend in with a fence. Iruka completely bypassed him and moved on. Naruto undid the jutsu and giggled. He fooled his Sensei successfully... or so he thought. Iruka cleverly pretended to not notice Naruto in order to lure him out.

"Naruto! You are in big trouble mister!" Iruka scolded.

"Eh- hey Sensei. What are you doing here?" Naruto tried to get out of trouble.

Iruka put his hands on his hips, "You know what you did. You're supposed to be in class. Now, let's go. We're going back to the academy."

Iruka dragged Naruto back. He had the entire class re-practice the transformation jutsu because of Naruto's bad behavior. The class groaned. They hated when Naruto acted out like this because they always paid for it later. The kids lined up in front of the first row of seats and one by one, they stepped forward to stand in front Iruka and performed the jutsu.

Then it was Naruto's turn. He did the hand sign and activated the jutsu. His transformation was pitiful. He had huge lips, the height wasn't even close, and the eyes were all crooked. He was supposed to look like the Third Hokage. Iruka scolded him for his horrible transformation. The only reason Naruto had trouble performing jutsu was because of the imbalance in his chakra caused by the Nine-Tails.

Naruto grumbled, "Oh yeah! Well how about this!? Transform!"

He used his Sexy Jutsu. Iruka's eyes went wide and he flung backwards. A stream of blood flowed out of his nose like a waterfall. Naruto's Sexy Jutsu was a transformation that turned him into an attractive and very naked female. Iruka composed himself and chewed him out for his discrepancy.

The class just stared as Naruto released the jutsu. He always got himself into trouble. Sometimes he even dragged a few of his classmates into things. The culprits were Shikamaru Nara, Chouji Akamichi, and Kiba Inuzuka. It wasn't long before there was a knock on the door.

"Uh? Come in," Iruka said.

The door opened and Zemaria entered the room, "Hello Iruka. I apologize for interrupting your class."

"Oh, uh- don't worry about it Lord Hokage. What brings you here today?" He asked.

She pointed to Naruto, "Your blond haired troublemaker. I'd like to pull him from the class."

Naruto gasped, " _Me_? I- I'm sorry!" He dropped to his knees. "I didn't mean to paint all over the Hokage faces! Honest!"

Zemaria raised an eyebrow and laughed, "That's not why I'm pulling you from your class! In fact, I've decided to pull you from the academy completely." She smiled.

"Pull him from the academy? Lord Hokage, why?" Iruka asked shocked.

"There's something about him is all. I think he would benefit from a different type of training. He'll still have to carry out the graduation exam with his classmates however," she explained.

The entire class was confused. The Hokage wanted _Naruto_? For what purpose? He was just a screw up who put shame to being the son of the Yellow Flash of the Leaf; Minato Namikaze. He had no real talent and no brains either. Why would the Hokage be interested in someone like that?

Naruto seemed to be intimidated by Zemaria's very presence. That type of feeling was unlike him. Everyone started whispering to each other and murmuring. She signaled to have him follow her out. He hesitated a moment until Iruka nodded as a sign that it was okay. Naruto trusted Iruka and hurried off to catch up to Zemaria.

Zemaria walked off further before waiting for Naruto to catch up. It didn't take long for him to reach her. She smiled and walked off again. There was a good reason why she wasn't saying anything. She wanted to bring Naruto some place quiet but spacious. After almost four hours of running since simply walking would have taken even more time up, they arrived at the Final Valley. The very place she and Itachi would train together.

They stopped at high ground overlooking the two statues, "Whoa! What is this place?"

She looked at him, "You didn't pay attention when I answered Sasuke's question, did you?"

"Eh- heh heh. That was so long ago. I don't really remember," he replied nervously.

"This is the Final Valley. The very last place where the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha fought their final battle. Itachi, Sasuke's older brother and I train here on and off," she told him.

"Mm... so why did you bring _me_ here?" He asked.

Zemaria closed her eyes and folded her arms, "I'm going to train you. Well, after you're cleaned the Hokage stone faces that is. I've also given your dad a two week vacation so he can spend some time with you."

Naruto's eyes widened, "You- you're going to train me? And dad's getting a vacation?"

She nodded, "That's right. I know I'll only be able to go so far with training you but it will be enough for when your dad picks up where I left off. And provided you pass the graduation exam, you'll have a new Sensei to train you as well. I know you have potential Naruto, I believe that one day you will become Hokage."

"You really believe that?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

She nodded again. No one had ever said that to him before. His dad was almost never home so he never really got encouragement from him. Zemaria blamed herself for that one since she was Hokage and in charge of giving out the missions. But Minato was such a huge asset to the village, she constantly had him on missions more so after Naruto had turned four. Zemaria really did have high hopes for Naruto considering who his parents were. She would start with the basic of basics; chakra control.

First, she demonstrated how to produce a steady flow of chakra. She closed her eyes, made a few hand signs, and used Fire Ball Jutsu. She even took the liberty of explaining the entire concept to him in terms that he could understand. He may be Minato's son but his intelligence seemed to be lower than his dad's who was highly intelligent. Mostly, she was curious on just how much power he possessed. The Nine-Tailed fox was said to have the most chakra of all the tailed beasts in existence.

"Now it's your turn. Try to build up a stead amount of chakra and then do the transformation jutsu. You can transform into Lord Third or your dad. Maybe Iruka would be a good test," she instructed.

"Uh- okay," Naruto nodded.

He closed his eyes and tried to build up his chakra. It was very crude and visibly circled around his body. She watched as he tried to perform the transformation jutsu. He decided to try Iruka. It failed horribly. His eyes were all wrong, the height was completely off, and the lips weren't proportional.

Zemaria observed everything he had done up until that one point; the activation of the jutsu. She closed her eyes in thought. _'It has to be the Nine-Tails. It's chakra is working against his own. But how can I help that to change it?'_ She thought.

She placed the tip of her thumb against her lips much like her mother would do when she was deep in thought. It was one of her usual habits. Naruto released the jutsu just as Minato managed to find them. Shikaku was with him. Zemaria shifted her gaze from Naruto to Minato and Shikaku. She wondered what brought them there. It couldn't be due to any disturbances in the village. Her snakes would have let her know.

"Shikaku, Sensei... what brings you out here?" She asked them.

"It seems Orochimaru had been performing experiments on the shinobi and residents of the village. Lord Third went out to confront him about it. He has a team of Anbu with him. It appears he didn't send word to you before heading out likely due to the fact it's your father who's involved," Shikaku informed.

"Hm. The old man is acting on his own with this? He doesn't have what it takes to stop father and he knows it. There's too much sentiment involved. Naruto, I'll have to put a temporary hold on our training session for now," Zemaria said and ran off.

Minato looked at Shikaku, "Are you sure it was a good idea to tell her? She doesn't have what it takes to stop him either you know."

Shikaku grumbled, "Yeah, I know. But we will see, won't we?"

Zemaria ran off toward the one hideout she always knew Orochimaru was at. She ran as fast as she could without having to remove her leg weights. If she got to him in time, she could at least say goodbye. However, as Hokage, she would have to stop him no matter what.

It took some time but, she had made it to the hideout. She didn't sense him inside. It was just Lord Third. Shikaku said he had a team of Anbu with him though. Did Orochimaru kill them? Then she sensed something further out; his heartbeat racing. He must have either gotten involved in a battle or he was injured. She checked her left wrist; the chakra bracelet was pulsing a deep purple. It was her father's chakra.

He was definitely injured. She hurried off in the direction she heard his heart beating. When she arrived, she saw Orochimaru and one of the Anbu. They were standing face to face with each other. She knew that heartbeat; Kakashi. It was Kakashi who injured him.

"Kakashi!" She yelled instinctively. It couldn't be helped.

"Huh? Lord Fourth?" He questioned.

Orochimaru winced from the pain, "Zem... kill him!"

She stood in the tree; teeth clenched, "I- I can't. You know I can't do that father!"

"You won't be going anywhere Orochimaru!" Kakashi yelled and charged up his Chidori.

Zemaria gasped. Kakashi ran toward Orochimaru who was so badly injured, he wouldn't have been fast enough to dodge or defend. Zemaria vanished from the tree and met Kakashi's Chidori with her own. She had copied the jutsu when he charged it up. Chidori versus Chidori; the explosion was immense. Orochimaru took it as an opportunity to try and escape as fast as his injury would allow.

Both Kakashi and Zemaria were thrown back in opposite directions. Zemaria shook off the aftermath of the explosion. Kakashi had managed to stop himself from hitting anything nearby. He was an Anbu after all. Something like that would never have been able to take him down. He didn't like the fact that the Hokage would help someone like Orochimaru.

"Why did you let him escape Lord Hokage!?" He yelled.

Zemaria stood up, "I acted on instinct. He's my father and I will protect him no matter what! I know what he's done and I don't support it at all but... I can't just let him be killed so easily. I'm sorry Kakashi, but if anyone is going to stop him, it will be _me_."

Kakashi straightened his posture, "If you were serious about stopping him, then why did you let him get away?"

She clenched her hand into a fist and was shaking lightly. Why did she let him run off? Did she really want to stop him or-? _'No, I have to stop him. If anything, he needs to take responsibility for his crimes.'_ She thought.

"Well?" He demanded an answer.

She stood silent. The right thing to do was to go after Orochimaru and capture him. But in her heart, she just couldn't allow that to happen. Confused, she ran off again in the direction her father had. There was one way to stop him. Kakashi followed after her just in case she decided to aid in his escape further. As she ran, she could tell she was being followed but she didn't care because Kakashi was the only other person who knew the jutsu she intended on using; the chakra chains.

The Chakra Chains jutsu was developed by Zemaria two years ago. It's purpose was to be used within the ranks of the Anbu Black Ops as a restraint. If she wasn't able to hit him with the jutsu, it would be up to Kakashi. Although, his goal is to kill him; not restrain him. She would have to explain her intentions to him so he wouldn't kill him.

"Kakashi, I have an idea. But I need your help in case things don't pan out the way I hope they will," she said.

"Of course you'd figure out I was following you. What's your plan?" He sighed.

She explained the plan. They would team up and take on Orochimaru. The first chance one of them had, would use the chakra chains. There was one stipulation to the jutsu though; the person who used it is the only one who could activate the defense part of it. In other words, if the person bound by it acts out by attacking anyone, the user could make one hand sign and activate a reaction within the bound person's body. For example, if it were Zemaria who used it and the person attacked her, she could activate it and a small but non-lethal amount of her poison would surge through the person's body.

It would put the person on their knees and render them completely harmless. On top of that, the only person who could remove the jutsu is the user. They were getting closer to Orochimaru. Orochimaru had made his way to an area that was unknown to the people of the Hidden Leaf. Inside of a huge tree lived a large number of people who if they left, would literally be blown away with the slightest wind. He had been abducting the kids under the ruse that he'd help them be able to leave their safe haven without blowing away.

They reached the entrance, "Alright, let's go." Kakashi waited a moment before heading in first.

Orochimaru didn't seem to be there, "Father... did you know I'd come here?" Zemaria's voice was soft and seemed to be disappointed.

"Lord Fourth, do we wait here and see if he'll show up or do we look elsewhere?" Kakashi asked.

Before she could answer, she sensed someone's presence, "Huh?" She went to Kakashi's side. "Who's there? Come out, now!"

The person slowly walked over and into the lighted area. He wore an Anbu mask but Zemaria didn't recognize the heartbeat. Could he be one of Danzō's men from the Foundation? Zemaria held a kunai in her hand. She didn't trust anyone from the Foundation.

"Are you here to stop Orochimaru?" He asked plainly.

"Who are you? You aren't one of _my_ Anbu," Zemaria asked on guard.

"Who I am isn't important. If you're here to stop Orochimaru, then I can't allow you to proceed any further," he said.

Zemaria's eyes narrowed, "Are you really going against your Hokage? If you are, I will have no choice but to take you down."

Kakashi place a hand on her shoulder gently, "Lord Fourth, our primary objective is Orochimaru."

She closed her eyes, "You're right. Kakashi, I leave this one to you. I'll go on ahead and find him. Then I'll stop him and drag him back for the interrogation unit to handle."

Kakashi nodded. She disappeared in a flash. The mystery Anbu engaged in a battle with Kakashi. The Anbu's goal was to help Orochimaru after he had met a young girl who was part of the clan Orochimaru was experimenting on. His wish was to help her be able to see the outside without fear of being swept away from the ground so easily.

They fought a long and drawn out battle. After a while, the two reached a sort of impasse after the Anbu explained things to Kakashi on why he was helping Orochimaru. Kakashi then agreed to secretly help him but not in order to help Orochimaru. Meanwhile, Zemaria had almost caught up to her father. He was in search for the young girl the Anbu was protecting. However, when Zemaria did catch up to him, he had already killed her entire clan and absorbed their powers somehow.

She saw that his wound had completely healed. Slowly, she approached him. He didn't flinch or seemed to be nervous or intimidated seeing her there. In fact, he thought that perhaps she had come to see him off and allow his escape across the border. No, it was the exact opposite. She was going to stop him then and there. As Hokage, she had no intention of letting him get away. But as his daughter, she wanted to so badly. She knew she couldn't though. Otherwise she'd be cast out as Hokage and held prisoner for being a traitor before being sent to her death. She wasn't ready to die; not yet.

Orochimaru laughed lightly, "Well, it's you then? I was expecting that phony Anbu with the Sharingan eye."

"Don't think that just because I stopped him before that I'll just let you leave this village. As Hokage, it's my duty and responsibility to stop you," she told him.

"So, my own daughter is going to turn on me? I trained you better than that!" He said and attacked her.

She dodged his attack. Quickly, she launched an attack of kunai and shuriken and also used shadow shuriken within the attack. Of course, Orochimaru was smarter and faster than that. It wasn't a very fair match even with how powerful Zemaria was. Orochimaru still had a bit of an advantage over her. They locked fists as well as had each others tongues wrapped tightly around the others throat.

Their style of fighting was unlike any other. The one thing Zemaria never really focused on was her taijutsu. She mainly focused on her speed, ninjutsu, and genjutsu. Even her Rinnegan was limited in how many techniques she could use with it. They both unwrapped their tongues and leapt away from each other.

She was holding back with fighting him and he could tell. Before long, she sensed that other Anbu and Kakashi approaching. Orochimaru decided to take advantage of her weakness; fighting her using taijutsu. He threw a punch at her and she blocked it. Then he tried a kick and she barely managed to block before he added extra force behind it and sent her flying. She flew past Kakashi and the Anbu and slammed against a tree.

"Lord Fourth!" Kakashi yelled.

She slid down to the ground after coughing up a bit of blood, "I'm fine." She stood up.

Orochimaru casually walked out of the hiding spot, "Perhaps you should have spent a little more time on your taijutsu skills child."

Zemaria ran toward him hoping to have a better advantage. Her vines he created during an experiment rose from the ground below him and entangled his entire body. That wasn't enough though. He slipped through using substitution. Kakashi stood by for his opening as planned. His job was to prevent Orochimaru from moving; complete restraint.

"I don't have time for all of this," Orochimaru said, reappearing before his daughter.

Kakashi took his opportunity, "You're not going anywhere!"

He used thin wires to ensnare him. He was trapped as he wasn't able to use substitution in time. Now was the perfect time to use the chakra chains on him. Zemaria made the hand signs as she walked close to him. She pressed her palm to his chest.

"Sealing Art: Chakra Chains Jutsu!" She said.

Black markings spread over top of his entire body. It looked like tattoos in the form of kanji style writing. Orochimaru could feel his chakra being suppressed and immediately grabbed Zemaria by the throat. He became angered by her actions and broke the wire restraining him. Zemaria slowly lifted her arm up and made a single hand sign.

It triggered the poison bound within the chains and sent a pain surging through Orochimaru's body. He suddenly let go of her throat and dropped to his knees. He had no idea what the pain was but he figured it had something to do with the hand sign Zemaria made. The longer she held it, the more pain he felt. Zemaria instructed Kakashi to take Orochimaru to the interrogation unit.

"I have things to take care of. Have Ibiki report back to me once they've gotten information out of him," Zemaria said.

As Kakashi nodded, she disappeared. Because of all of this, her training session with Naruto was interrupted. She also hadn't gotten that much free time to see Itachi either. As all of this was happening, Iruka was supervising Naruto as he cleaned up the Hokage stone faces. Naruto of course was making a big stink about having to clean off his own mess.

"Hey Naruto!" Iruka called up to him from below.

"Hm? What is it Iruka-Sensei?" He asked.

Iruka rubbed a finger against his cheek and made a face, "I was just thinking... if you do a good job cleaning this mess up that I could- treat you to ramen later."

Naruto's eyes lit up, "Really!? You mean that Sensei?" He smiled a big smile.

"Yeah, I do," he told him.

Naruto laughed happily and started working even faster. Iruka smiled, pleased that Naruto had a bit more incentive to clean up his mess. While Naruto was cleaning his mess, Zemaria had snuck off to find Itachi. She found him at the Uchiha training ground. They snuck away together. Their little 'teenage romp' lasted almost an hour before they returned to their rightful places; Zemaria at the Hokage office and Itachi at the Uchiha district.

Something new began to bud within the Leaf village; a love between a Senju and an Uchiha. Fugaku would not like this arrangement his son made behind his back for sure. No matter how much Zemaria had been helping his clan, he still held hatred toward the village and the Senju clan. For now, he was completely put in the dark on Itachi's new relationship with Zemaria.


End file.
